Nearly all of Indian Prairie District 204’s nearly 4,000 employees are in compliance with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive order that school staff be vaccinated for COVID-19 or undergo weekly COVID tests, district officials said.
However, a handful of employees — in the single digits — are refusing to follow either requirement, meaning they are prohibited from entering any school building or being on a school bus, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Louis Lee said.
The employees are being cited for taking unexcused days from work for which they will not be paid, Indian Prairie spokeswoman Lisa Barry said. Ultimately, they could end up losing their positions, she said.
“Progressive measures may be taken in any policy and/or state law, as it relates to a person’s employment in a school district, (which could) lead up to and include termination,” Barry said in a statement.
Indian Prairie employees are defined as full-time staff like teachers and administrators; part-time or temporary employees, like substitute teachers and lunchroom workers; and contractual workers, like bus drivers, who work for the First Student bus company, Lee said.
It’s not known how many Naperville School District 203 employees aren’t in compliance because the district would not release their numbers. The Naperville Sun has filed an FOI request to obtain them.
“The process of collecting this data and processing weekly testing for more than 3,000 employees has been time consuming and required many resources,” district spokesman Alex Mayster said in a statement.
This past week marked the first time Indian Prairie has started voluntary use of SHIELD COVID-19 testing, developed by the University of Illinois. Lee said some employees have chosen to get tested through SHIELD.
“They can just come into their buildings and get tested,” Lee said. “It is an optional enrollment. They are not required to do it. Many have still chosen to do it on their own.”
Last week, three Indian Prairie staff members were placed on “exclusionary status” due to being in close contact with someone who has COVID-19. Another four staff members tested positive for the virus last week, district data showed.
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